


Vehement

by syrenhug



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-14
Updated: 2014-10-14
Packaged: 2018-02-21 04:39:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2455037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/syrenhug/pseuds/syrenhug
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vehement. Adj. Expressed with or showing conviction or intense feeling.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vehement

Leo trails behind him always and asks, “Why?”

_\- is this it?_

He doesn’t falter, just keeps walking through the forest. Everything is itchy leaves and restless animals. Sound is a rarity.  They keep going because there should be a place to go.

“Why?”

_\- were we pushed together?_

The world dying should be something he can deal with it, but it’s not. Nico doesn’t see ghosts. He sees slowly wasting bodies and legs that drag. Decay drips from everyone’s nose as they pass through the farthest part of the city. It’s dark (who knows where Apollo is). The only sputters of life he sees are brown eyes.

“Why?”

\- _are we fading away?_

Leo is passionate, almost violent in his flames of living. He doesn’t want the cold of the Now. He wants the heat of Before. It gets something going inside Nico and every once in a while he feels the fight return. He wants to keep trying.

“Why?”

\- _why?_

When he dreams it is of a sun that shines. A sky that storms. A sea that rages on. Flashes of people against his cornea - Percy and Annabeth holding each other tight. Jason and Piper sleeping in a car. Frank and Hazel pressed in an elevator. They are okay, he knows. But it’s hard to rejoice in living when everyone is practically dead.

“I don’t know.” He rasps, finally. Watching the birds fly and chirp, singing each other a lullaby. “Why not?”

“We need to do _something_ , Nico.”

“We can we do? The gods, the goddesses- they all need their rest now. Don’t you understand? There’s nothing we can do.” He hisses, folding his arms. Answers are easier to figure out if you know the questions.

And with that, Leo is aflame. The tip of his finger is punched between Nico’s ribs and the ground between their feet is burning. The warmth of him is frightening and good, great, against his battered clothes.

“Listen, kid, there’s always something we can do. Always. Do you understand that?”

He narrows his eyes. Nods.

“Good.” The other boy sighs and scratches his hair, looking more then a little confused. “Now, if we’re done with the pep talk, let’s get going.”

* * *

It isn’t the easiest journey, but they make it. Nico’s jacket is torn and Leo’s eyes have dimmed a little. They’re trying.

Olympus is broken. The walls are crumbled pieces of weary faces and no one looks like they want to get up again. Leo gestures, guiding him over to the sagging body of Apollo. He’s against the wall, light hair framing sprinkling over his eyes.

The god blinks at them, smiles. It’s tired. “Why am I not surprised to see you two here?”

They look at each. But, in the end, it’s Leo that states, “We need you to drive your chariot and get the sun rising again.”

“I would love to, kid. _Believe_ me, but whatever hit us, hit us hard.”

“Yeah, we know. It’s bad out there. Really bad. We don’t know where half of the camp is and everything’s going to shit - "

“Leo.” Nico sighs because, really, he has absolutely no filter. Leo just waves at him, turning back.

“Come on, Apollo. Help us. Please.”

Something in the god shifts and his eyes are the blue of a storm. The set of his mouth is biting. “Why ask me? It’s not like I’m that important.”

“Of course you are. Without light we have nothing to make the world shine.”

 It surprises him, even. The sureness of the words. The air pauses. Then, Apollo illuminates with it, stretching up with a muffled curse that has Leo snickering. He watches the curve of the other’s back as he shakes with amusement even though the world is in it’s depths and -

And they keep going. Leo makes them.

* * *

 They forget to tell you when the world is ending and everyone is running toward their most important people, that all of it doesn’t matter. But you should do it anyway.

 Leo stands beside him along the street, staring up into the sky. “Think it worked?”

 “Maybe.” But he does. He does think it worked. And it’s scary, how much of the other’s confidence, assuredness, that anything that they do is worth something, has rubbed off on him. Nico has never known someone so full of life.

 “Just _maybe_? I’m hurt. Leo Valdez works miracles.”

 “Shut up.”

 He’s granted a smirk. “Maybe.”

 They forget to tell you when the world is ending, that it doesn’t always stay that way. Because Nico can hear someone laughing. A loud chastisement of _Seaweed Brain_. A rough tumble into the sidewalk.

When the sky husks into a shade of pink, a hand curls into his own, tight and unrelenting. His mouth twitches into a smile.

The world begins again.


End file.
